Asia report: Stocks mostly higher, US elections and jobs data in focus

Asia Pacific stocks were mostly higher at the end of the week on the back of reports indicating that US presidential candidate Joe Biden was consolidating his lead, which could lead to a quicker than expected resolution of the contest for the White House.

Nevertheless, there was still an outside chance of an electoral college tie, even if it was not considered likely.

Further muddying the waters was the possibility of multiple legal challenges from the Trump campaign against the vote count in several states.

Also overnight, rate-setters at the Federal Reserve stood pat on policy but some economists believed that US Republican's ability to retain control of the Senate meant that fiscal would be less than if the Democrats had achieved a majority, meaning that the Fed would be called on again to fill the gap, so to speak.

The Nikkei-225 gained 0.91% to 24,325.23, alongside an advance for the Indian BSE 100 of 1.04% to 12,323.17, but the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite index dippped 0.24% to 3,312.16 while Seoul's Kospi was up 0.11% to 2,416.5.

To take note of, in the background, investors around the world were also waiting on the latest monthly US non-farm payrolls report, which could easily dominate market trading on Friday.

In China, central bank governor, Liu Guoqiang, said policymakers around the world were analysing the best timing for withdrawing stimulus.

"Exit is a matter of time and it is also necessary," he said. "But the timing and method of exit need to be carefully evaluated, mainly based on the status of economic recovery."

Investors in the region were also keeping an eye on a possible eruption of Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano, the most active in the archipielago.